The Devil’s Advocate: An Interview with Dr. Michael Aquino

There are few people in this world who have sparked so much malice, hatred and anger as Dr. Michael Aquino. As a former member of The Church of Satan and the founder of The Temple of Set, he has made his mark in American culture as one of the most outrageous and memorable icons of the early Satanic and Left-Handed-Path movements. Anyone who would do a Google search of Dr. Aquino would easily find video names like, “Aquino, Satanic Mind-Control Cults”, “NSA Long Range Takeover of America” and others.

The conspiracies about this man are virtually endless. Some have claimed that he was the head of a child abuse ring that was sanctioned by the United States Government, others have claimed that he picked up where others left off in the mind control programs of MK Ultra and others like it. There are murky stories about him sacrificing Viet Cong soldiers during his time in Vietnam and others in which he performed Nazi Occult Rituals. A portion of his Mind War project has been leaked, discussing method of mass control of emotions through current means of communication. The idea behind it was to demoralize an enemy population and literally change their emotions through certain audio frequencies.

Is Dr. Aquino as he might claim, a highly honored former member of the United States military who founded an expressive and controversial new religion, mistreated by conspiracy theorists and witch hunters frothing in the 80’s and 90’s? Or is he really the personification of the ultimate evil, a high priest of the New World order whose only goal is total domination of others through traditional and occult means? I had the chance to speak with a former member of the Temple of Set (who shall remain anonymous) to get their unique thoughts on all of this controversy:

GR: What was it about the Temple of Set that attracted you in the first place?

In my wayward youth I was immersed in LaVeyan Satanism, and I needed to take the “next step”. I felt that the Temple of Set provided a much needed, intelligent, philosophical approach to the sinister tradition of initiation. It was an appropriate step at the time and I have no regrets.

GR: What about it caused you to want to step away?

My philosophical and historical research on the nature of the left-hand path and on the nature of the god Seth went beyond the horizons of the Temple of Set’s definitions of these realities. As I examined the eastern sources of the tantric left-hand path, and the nature of the deity Seth-Typhon in Egyptian source texts and Egyptological literature (not to mention the ritual magical traditions of this god preserved in the Greek Magical Papyri) I increasingly realised that the Temple of Set was worlds removed from the actual authentic sources that it purported to explore.

GR: What kinds of things did you hear about Dr. Aquino? Was everyone positive about him, or were there thoughts that maybe he was actually the evil character so many accused him to be?

He was always careful to explain and contextualise the sensationalised rumours that circulated about him. I didn’t hear anything untoward from people that actually knew him personally. On the contrary, most people that knew him personally had nothing but good to say about him (philosophical differences notwithstanding).

GR: Did you find the goals of The Temple of Set to be similar to those of other organizations, like the Masons, or was there some other plan, or goal that the Temple had set as an agenda?

There was no political agenda or anything like that. The Temple of Set was highly individualistic and completely eschewed roping its members in to a collective agenda. While the Temple of Set are similar to the Masons in terms the structure of their initiatic system (and this can be said for most modern western esoteric societies: Golden Dawn, OTO etc.), this does not support sensationalised conspiracies based on ignorance.

GR: Were you ever asked to do anything that people would consider bad, or illegal?

Not at all.

GR: Was there any crossover from Dr. Aquino’s mind control work and the work done in The Temple of Set? If so, were any of these methods taught to you?

The Temple of Set has a concept of “Lesser Black Magic” in which they employ psychological and behavioural techniques to persuade others to faciliate the will of the magician. But this was never to cross the boundaries of social law. The Temple of Set explicitly demands its members be law abiding citizens.

GR: What is your personal opinion about Dr. Aquino? Do you think he did all of the things people accuse him of, or is it just sensationalizing somebody who is looking for attention?

I never met him in person so will refrain from absolute judgement, but I do believe that most if not all of the accusations stem from fear, ignorance and sensation rather than actual facts. The magnitude with which people react to sinister traditions in spirituality is out of all proportion to a sane and balanced view.

GR: What would you ask Dr. Aquino, if you had the chance to see him face to face?

I’d ask him if he’d like to sit down and shoot the breeze about theology, metaphysics, cosmology, and personal gnosis. But in terms of philosophical differences, I’d ask him if his theory of the archetype or Platonic form of “Isolate Self Consciousness” really coheres with what actual Platonists said about Seth/Typhon (for there are Platonists and Neoplatonists who write directly on the nature of this god, and they do not connect him with a noble principle of consciousness). In short, how does his understanding of the nature of the god Seth reconcile with the Egyptian, Greek and Hellenistic sources, especially Neoplatonic theurgy (and I’d ask that he cite his sources directly rather than reinterpret them)?

GR: Do you think we should fear what people in the Temple of Set are doing? Why, or why not?

No. We have no reason to fear. I still have friends to this day that I met in the Temple of Set and/or who are still current, active members, and they are balanced, well integrated and ethical people. Of course, you must still judge everyone on a case by case basis, by their behavior in life, and not on their affiliation.

GR: What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned while a member of the Temple of Set?

I learned a lot. I was exposed to some amazing esoteric literature and it was a great environment to gestate in. I was exposed to some very interesting people, ideas, works, and philosophies. But I guess the biggest lesson I learned was that you must always go to the source, not just the literary or philosophical source, but the vital gnosis itself. Intellectual knowledge is useful, but not enough. One must have knowledge by presence. And for me personally, this knowledge has taken me beyond the principle of isolation and separateness extolled by the Temple of Set, and opened me up into a radically nondualistic worlview, which is by no means “right hand path” as defined by the Temple of Set, but in fact more consistent with the spirit and sources of the tantric left hand path as practiced in the east.

You would think that with all of this controversy surrounding Dr. Aquino, he would be very difficult to get a hold of. I assumed this to be the case, what with him being busy eating babies and drinking the tears of the innocent, he’d be tied up. This was not the case, in fact it took me all of five minutes to get a line on his personal email and within a couple hours had a reply from him. I think in matters like this where there is so much going on, we should be going to the source. So I now offer Dr. Aquino’s perspective on the controversy that surrounds him. If you feel that any of my own questions are lacking, feel free to contact him yourself: Xeper@sbcglobal.net.

GR: How would you define Setianism? Is it the worship of evil, or is this just a misunderstanding based on people’s preconceived notions and biases? What is its core purpose?

First of all, don’t call it “Setianism”; we never do. “Setian philosophy” please!

The appeal of occultism is much the same as that of conventional religion: Logical positivism and scientific materialism, though they have made great strides towards explaining the “how” of existence, have failed entirely to explain the “why”. Hence the curious seek answers in metaphysical philosophy or religion. Metaphysical philosophy requires a logical base from which various suprarational principles are induced. Conventional religion is the simplification of such a philosophy into a crude ideology, which adherents need not understand, but only accept as an act of blind faith.

Conventional religions, with their colorful mythologies analyzed in terms of the underlying philosophical principles, represent simply the primitive longing of man to feel “at one” with the Universal harmony he perceives about him. “White” magic, as advocated by primitive pagan and modern institutional religions, offers devotees the illusion of “re-inclusion” in the Universal scheme of things through various ritualistic devotions and superstitions.

The Black Magician, on the other hand, rejects both the desirability of union with the Universe and any self-deceptive antics designed to create such an illusion. He has considered the existence of the individual psyche – the “core you” of your conscious intelligence – and has taken satisfaction from its existence as something unlike anything else in the Universe. The Black Magician desires this psyche to live, to experience, and to continue. He does not wish to die – or to lose his consciousness and identity in a larger, Universal consciousness [assuming that such exists]. He wants to be. This decision in favor of individual existence is the first premise of the Temple of Set.

The second premise of the Temple is that the psychecentric consciousness can evolve towards its own divinity through deliberate exercise of the intelligence and Will, a process of becoming or coming into being whose roots may be found in the dialectic method expounded by Plato and the conscious exaltation of the Will proposed by Nietzsche.

Ironically it is the very ease with which any individual can apprehend and appreciate his or her personal psyche that has frightened the many religions of the world which deny and oppose the power of that psyche. Clothed though they may be in riches, ritual, and respectability, they always have been and remain obsessed with the suppressed knowledge of their own essential falsehood. They endeavor to distract attention from this by sponsoring shows of mind-numbing drugs, mantras, masses, privations, entertainments, and penances to coax or cow their flocks of adherents into a confused, apprehensive, but trusting state of faith and automatic obedience. They shudder with horror at the psyche; they paint it red and add horns, cloven hooves, and a forked tail to dramatize how “dangerous” it is. Yet they can never escape it or defeat it, because they have never really succeeded in opposing themselves to it – merely in distorting and perverting it. How could they destroy something which, in the final analysis, is the conscious self of every human being?

The “worship” of Set is thus the “worship” of individualism. In the old Church of Satan this was taken to mean indulgence in all [legal] desires of the body and ego. Since many such desires are impulsive and destructive, the Church found itself in the unexpected and awkward position of de facto endorsing many practices which were degrading rather than exalting, and which simply accelerated the tensions resulting in the eventual crisis of 1975.

The Temple of Set determined to preserve the principle of individualism, but to add to it the evolutionary “higher self” aspirations of Aleister Crowley’s pre-O.T.O. philosophy ofThelema. Glorification of the ego is not enough; it is the complete psyche – the entire self or soul – which must be recognized, appreciated, and actualized. The process by which this exaltation of the psyche is sought is called by the name Xeper [pronounced “kheffer”; it is the Egyptian hieroglyphic term for “to become” or “to come into being”].

GR: Your unique manner of dress in the past has a very dark theme, making it easy for some to imagine that you are an evil man. Was this intentional in order to conjure a particular feeling in those you meet?

I’m not certain to what “unique manner of dress” you’re referring. I grew up in the “Eisenhower 50s” and have always been drearily conservative in my tastes. The Setian Priesthood may wear clerical shirts with black collar inserts along with business attire. In private ceremonies the tradition is black robes trimmed with the color of the Setian’s degree. Membership insignia is a simple neck medallion with the silver Pentagram of Set against the degree-color background. That’s all.

As a professional Army officer I of course wore the regulation Army uniform on duty, with no religious additions or accessories.

GR: People on YouTube and elsewhere on the internet say that you were involved in child abuse on a grand scale, citing multi-million dollar lawsuits. They say that you got away with it because of your Above Top Secret status and connections within our government. Is this true?

No one has ever sued Mrs. Aquino or myself for any crime against children, because we have never committed any such crime and there is no evidence beyond unsupported fictional allegations to the contrary. Nor of course have we ever been charged criminally with anything either.

Far from insulating anyone against criminal actions, a U.S. government security clearance would be the first thing to vanish. Such clearances for military personnel are administered independently by the Defense Investigative Service, and its determinations are not restricted by legal technicalities or Constitutional rights. If you are determined to be a risk to U.S. national security for any reason whatever, no clearance and no appeal. My personal clearance until my 1994 retirement was Top Secret/Special Intelligence Access, which is the most stringent, requiring regular, recurring Special Background Investigations (SBI). DIS was fully aware of the 1987 “abuse” scam attempted by Chaplain Lawrence Adams-Thompson, as well as the various copycat scams attempted later, and evaluated these for just the frauds that they were.

GR: Is there any documentation these people have that proves this?

None whatever, again for the simple reason that Lilith and I have never committed any such crimes. Allegations invented out of thin air are worth just that.

GR: Conversely, what do you say to the people who lay these claims against you? Why not sue them for slander?

The outcome of any civil lawsuit is a cash award. If the person you’re suing has little or no assets, the suit is just an expense waste of time. Indigent cranks would love to be sued for the sheer publicity and fun of it, both of which I am not interested in giving them.

I could not sue Adams-Thompson because he was careful to make his allegations only to law-enforcement (which is privileged) and not to the public or media. I twice filed court-martial charges against him for multiple violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Both times the charges were administratively suppressed by his chain of command without the required UCMJ investigation. Evidently court-martialling a Christian chaplain for crimes against a “Satanist” was just not going to happen.

GR: There is much debate and disinformation out there about what Mind War actually is. The Mind War paper is all over the web, but it does not cite a patent. Is there a patent number that people can look up?

The 1980 “From PSYOP to MindWar” paper was just a brief staff study that I did for the commander of the 7th PSYOP Group, U.S. Army. It was never intended as anything more than a theoretical “thinking paper” in response to the Vietnam-era ineffectiveness of U.S. PSYOP. Its ballyhooing by the conspiracy lunatic fringe is simply silly. For an up-to-date, in-depth discussion of the concept, see my 2013 book MindWar, available here.

GR: Do you, or have you ever participated in mind control programs like MK Ultra, or Project Monarch? If not, how did you make sure your Mind War tech worked?

I was just entering high school at the time that the CIA’s MKULTRA program was shut down. There has never been an actual “Project Monarch” as far as I know, nor am I aware of or have participated in anything like it under any other name.

As for the Psychological Control (PSYCON) techniques detailed in my 2013 book, each of them is substantiated and documented therein.

GR: Do you believe, confirm or deny that some celebrities and public figures are victims of secret government programs like Project Monarch?

As above, I am not aware of anything like “Project Monarch”, or any other government program to influence officials or celebrities.

GR: Can you name anyone who appears to be a victim of this kind of conditioning? Could you explain why this may or may not be the case?

As above, no. There are some celebrities who are known to be Scientologists, but there are many more who believe in things like virgin births and the parting of the Red Sea. Take your pick.

GR: There are some who claim that the hippie movement was actually a Governmental Psyop intended to make a generation of soft-headed, malleable wimps who just want to foolishly do drugs and fancy themselves enlightened. People who claim this say that key musicians were in on it, like the Grateful Dead, Jim Morrison and their ilk. Is there any truth to this?

That’s a very broad question, because it extends to the entire 1960s counterculture. I think it’s fairly well-established by any number of historians that it happened and evolved as spontaneously as any other social epoch. Was the government interested in certain aspects of it, such as the effects of LSD? Sure; that was a part of the MKULTRA interest. But the 6os’ countercultural universe went far beyond any recreational drug-use; it was generally a reaction to the social conservatism of the 1950s, the paranoia of the Cold War, and social stresses such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War draft. I enjoy listening to the Dead and the Doors, although my personal favorite was, and still is, the Jefferson Airship.

GR: Do you know if Aldous Huxley, Gordon Wasson, Timothy Leary, Alan Watts and Terence McKenna were involved in a concerted Governmental effort to misdirect the public? If anyone would have known about a mind control program this pervasive, it would be you. Should we all burn our tie-dye shirts?

No, and you can keep your tie-dyed shirt. Of the above list, I’ve only read or listened to Leary and Watts. The former always struck me as incoherent and the latter as Eastern-mystical dreamsville. I was more partial to Hunter Thompson, and Jack Webb gave some nice lectures on good citizenship in his Dragnet 1967 reprise series.

GR: You have lamented that you have seen your Mind War tech at least in part used unethically during the Gulf War. Do you fear it will be used again, or is currently being used on US citizens and furthermore, what can the average person do to protect themselves from the system that you have created?

I have always maintained that any kind of PSYOP requires strict ethical guidelines if it is not to be misused like the propaganda systems of the old totalitarian dictatorships. As the highest form of PSYOP, MindWar requires absolute ethical integrity, as once again detailed in my book. And the reason for this is brutally simple: There is no defense whatever against MW PSYCONs, because they access the subconscious, not the conscious thought process. You would have absolutely no idea a MW campaign was being directed against you unless you knew exactly what to look for, and quite possibly not even then.

Understand this: MW has one and only one purpose and justification: to preempt and eliminate ordinary “physical” war (PhysWar or PW). It is a mechanism to stop the killing and injuring of people and the destruction of their homes and livelihood. If it is used for that end, under rigorous ethical guidelines, then and only then is it acceptable.

GR: Do you fear what the future holds, knowing what you know, or do you look forward to something positive?

Politically I am a Platonist, holding that mankind aspires to know and do the Good. Any number of lower, lesser influences can impede this, as the record of history evidences. There are a great many negative forces loose in today’s world, including the overreaching ecological crisis, so it’s hard to insist on personal and community ethics. But if there is to be any future for humanity beyond self-annihilation, we must do so. That is once again the premise of my MindWar book.

GR: What reasons would people have to trust you when you say you are not all of these bad things that people say about you? After 3 decades of controversy, you must be sick of debating about all of this.

People can start by taking a look at my documented personal vitæ here (PDF) and noting all of the institutions throughout my life which have evaluated, credentialed, and recognized me over my lifetime. They can also read my several free ebooks concerning my experiences, interests, and philosophy, and once again my currently published MindWar.

The only things which sicken me are malice and stupidity, and there is no point complaining about the kind of people who epitomize these.

GR: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share with our readers, anything you don’t normally have a chance to say?

I’ll echo one of my favorite quotes from Abraham Lincoln, who at the height of the Civil War was routinely vilified from all sides:

“If I were to try to read, much less answer all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how – the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

Coming away from this conversation, I feel like most of the things said about him are probably sensational bullshit, but then again I wasn’t there at the times and places of these events. What I do know is that Dr. Aquino’s story represents the modern day witch hunt, slander based on personal bias and the attacking of strange people in order to make a name for oneself. If we are to get to the heart of the matter, we need to be willing to set our own biases and hunches aside. There is no doubt in my mind that the controversy will continue ad infinitum. Before you decide to comment on this thread, please take the time to follow the ample links I have provided within this story so we can be good Disinfonauts, parsing fact from fiction. For details on exactly what the Temple of Set is all about, please visit here.

***

Editor’s note: I realize that this may be a controversial interview. I edited this piece to make stand-along hyperlinks embedded in text and to remove some faulty coding, but otherwise, it has been untouched. As with all of contributions submitted to Disinfo.com, publication does not imply advocacy or endorsement of either the views of the writer or the subject matter of the piece.

Gabriel D. Roberts is a theological scholar, researcher and public speaker that specializes in discussions about the nature of perception and belief. After 27 years of passionate searching and study, Gabriel stepped away from his long held Christian faith into a more expansive and fluid worldview.The details and reasons are catalogued in his book, Born Again To Rebirth.Like many others who have had an earnest thirst for the answers to the big questions of life, Gabriel was not satisfied to settle for not knowing more.His latest book, The Quest For Gnosis explores the roots of belief, the power of the ecstatic state in one’s spiritual life and the means by which a deeply satisfying spiritual life may be achieved outside of the bonds of dogma.Within The Quest For Gnosis, Gabriel interviews 20 of the brightest minds in this field of study, including Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, Graham Hancock, Daniele Bolelli, Peter J. Carroll, Hamilton Morris, Dr. Aaron Cheak, David Metcalfe, Dr. Rick Strassman and many more.

Gabriel writes for VICE Magazine, Disinfo.com and Realitysandwich.com and is the author of three books. He is continuing his research at the University of Washington in his hometown of Tacoma, WA.

varsel of a dot; memory of a line; a fetch so near identity; as to warp world metrics; permutations; triangles; innocent remains; a critical matching scenario; self similar shadows; asymmetric; symbiotic; thought cut to be simple; delete truth to move; read stationary; crumple the story; flatten it to know; orbit nowhere; forever multiply; cheat death; a hidden piece; deceptive work; yoke wielding jerk; gamer nerd ending; saved from saviors; saber specters; setesh auspicion organism; which suspicious occlusion; disproportionate ill-favoring; instruments of the order of unawareness; programmed like a computer; discreteness; not itself the identity; not a clue; like you; justicelessness of the peace; antiseptic surprise; chronophobic insides; new organs playing feedback; and there i was; at this line; are not we identicon; are we not all eidolon

Ted Heistman

I find an interesting contrast here:

“The Black Magician, on the other hand, rejects both the desirability of
union with the Universe and any self-deceptive antics designed to create
such an illusion. He has considered the existence of the
individual psyche – the “core you” of your conscious intelligence – and
has taken satisfaction from its existence as something unlike anything
else in the Universe. The Black Magician desires this psyche to live, to
experience, and to continue. He does not wish to die – or to lose his
consciousness and identity in a larger, Universal consciousness
[assuming that such exists]. He wants to be. This decision in favor of
individual existence is the first premise of the Temple of Set.”

-Michael Aquino

“Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self.

This is the man I want myself to be but who cannot exist because God
does not know anything about him. And to be unknown of God is altogether
too much privacy.

My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside
the reach of God’s will and God’s love . . . outside of reality and
outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion.
For most people in the world, there is no greater subjective
reality than this false self of theirs, which cannot exist. A life
devoted to the cult of this shadow is what is called a life of sin”

merton sounds like someone who’s never met abraxis, according to faulty logic. or perhaps he is agent K, who is known for ‘stepping on the wrong cockroach’. *investigates*

Ted Heistman

Abraxis is a biotech company! (which is a ballsey name BTW) you must mean Abraxas. I know this because I just googled “abraxis” to brush up on him.

Simon Valentine

oh. i’ve spent some time at the “vowel kaleidoscope” … not sure if that’s my normal spelling or not *checks*
oh, got it. abraxis is my usual spelling for my greater familiarity with Kabraxis than with abraxas. Kabraxis is a demon from diablo franchise book the black road ~

Craig

Abaxis is the name of the company. They make kinx oc poor quality products

Wesley Honegger

One is Christian propaganda and one is not?

Charlie Primero

Aquino is being a disingenuous prick. He wants it both ways.

He wants to trade on his well-manicured Uncle Fester media persona and former intelligence agency credentials to sell his new book PsyWar, but he ALSO wants to deny he ever did any rituals that were actually evil, or ever used psyops unethically. Which is it old man?

Psyops are *by definition* unethical because they are *by definition* deceptions and frauds.

Also notice the sly way he poo-poos Douglas Dietrich’s revelations, when instead he should give Dietrich a cut of the book profits for keeping the Aquino legend alive all these years.

“I’m not certain to what “unique manner of dress” you’re referring”.
(Oh Jebus that was trite.)

“Far from insulating anyone against criminal actions, a U.S. government security clearance would be the first thing to vanish. Such clearances for military personnel are administered independently by the Defense Investigative Service”
(Right. Intel agencies believe in Truth, Justice, the American Way, and only credential upstanding Clark Kent do-gooders.)

“As the highest form of PSYOP, MindWar requires absolute ethical integrity, as once again detailed in my book”.
(I literally laughed out loud when I read that).

That being said, I will still read his new book, but I won’t pay to get it.

Ted Heistman

He kind of comes off as a Politician, I will say that. I am skeptical that mind control actually works. I mean its just a fantasy in my opinion. Some girl doesn’t like you, so instead of moving on you buy some pheromone thing from the back of a magazine to fill her with uncontrollable lust. That’s how I look at. Same mindset.

Charlie Primero

I disagree. Mind Control does indeed work. For many years I taught mental heath facility workers how to use it to control patients. 70% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9/11. I have close friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. The vast majority of morning commuters believe Egg McMuffins are actually food.

Ted Heistman

Well, I guess I forget how unconscious a lot of people are. I mean that sounds really arrogant, and I am not saying I am super brilliant or anything, but I think past a certain level of consciousness it doesn’t work. So a lot of people aren’t past that level.

But still in the long run I don’t think mind control gets people what they want.

Guest

I must be really smart then.

Calypso_1

What were these mind control techniques you taught?

Charlie Primero

The nice name for it is “Behavior Therapy”. It’s really just various forms of operant conditioning like you see on television shows about training dogs, only more sophisticated.

Calypso_1

No electrified floors or brain implants?

Charlie Primero

No. Those are expensive and illegal. Psychtropic meds work just as well, are acceptable to inspectors, and reduce operating costs.

Someone feel free to tell me what the differences are between the Order of the Vampyre and the Temple of the Vampire? Were they established at the same time? How far apart? Which one was first?

the Temple of the Vampire have a far more public face , as far as I can tell

James Nimmons

i can tell you their similarities….vampires arent real..

Guest

I can tell you know shit all

Simon Valentine

typically an order and a temple are differentiable by such as:

temple is clique (group transpondence)
order is outside a particular clique, but not necessarily with nor necessarily without temple (piecewise transpondents)

someone familiar (enough) with order could identify a member who is not in their clique (temple)

it is easier to fall from a temple than from an order

Guest

People have said that they have the same founder and share members but I don’t know myself.

Simon Valentine

yeah, the aten effect isn’t … well … n/m … eclipses. for what you search the answer may be known in order of a temple eclipse. it does seem unlikely, in terms of persons.

in terms of myth, important to think; in terms of prey … don’t listen too much?

Robert Westwood

It is quite disappointing that this article is actually encouraging readers to get in contact with those people. It is not recommended that people new to the subject get in contact with those people.

Guest

Recommend similar to Shinto lineage initiation for less than $25 . This is more or less what the TOV offer. I would vouch for them. There is nothing they teach that hasn’t already been written about by tantric yogis, or anthropologists writing about witchcraft and contagious magic and so on.

The very same identical initiation methodology, sacrificing your soul-stuff (ch’i) is practiced in Korea’s indigenous shamanism. The more I have read and studied of abroad , such as the Demon’s Sermon On The Martial Arts and poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the more sense it makes.

Predation,

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf’s young.’

Sacrifice/Offering,

Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessèd them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

Reciprocation/Infilling of the holy spirit,

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.
The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.
My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.
I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light—almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blessed ghost.

Gabriel D. Roberts

My intention is to allow those who are making claims about Dr. Aquino to speak to him themselves rather than saying whatever they heard from some other person. I don’t encourage people to randomly contact Dr. Aquino, but the people stating claims against him should have the wherewithal to speak to the man himself rather than hide behind a youtube channel.

Guest

He’s responded to me on forums sometimes in the past. he has been helpful and polite.

Gabriel D. Roberts

I’ve found him to be very accommodating as well.

Guest

To Robert,

After initiation and ascension you’re free to placate whoever you want.

but to those who would propitiate the descent of the numinous on their own, through releasing shudders from daemonic-dread, beware – it is effective and the result is an acute manic psychosis -all around the world.

whether it is djinn worship, spiritualism, korean shamanism, shinto, I have references of psychosis from all around the world.

Psychosis is mentioned as a rite of passage into mediumship within the following books,

The Darkened Room: Women, Power, And Spiritualism In Late Victorian England by Alex Owen

Korean Shamanism -Muism by Dr. Kim Tae-kon & Dr. Chang Soo-kyung

The Essence of Shinto: Japan’s Spiritual Heart by Motohisa Yamakage

these are the books that use the western language of mania or psychosis, some other books are less explicit but they mention chronic insomnia, prolonged ecstatic state and so on

Living With Djinns: Understanding And Dealing With The Invisible in Cairo by Barbara Drieskens

Spirits Without Borders: Vietnamese Spirit Mediums In A Trans-National Age by Karen Fjelstad

// It’s a universal

Hocketeer

Qi psychosis has nothing to do with demons or spirits, they are all but projections of a weak, uncultivated body and an overly busy mind. A rancid mix of hysteria, mindfucking and totally incompetent initiation. No wonder fearful degenerates can’t handle it.

Guest

Qi psychosis has nothing to do with spirits?

Then why is Qi Gong psychosis known as Catching Fire Entering Demon? That is the translation of Zou huo ru mo (走火入魔) . Also known as Qi Gong deviation.

In North America, those suffering from Wendigo psychosis were often killed. I recommend reading The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood. Killer story.

Hocketeer

That’s exactly it, the student has to master the alchemical apparatus first or else the stress can lead to a serious psychotic episode. 魔 in this case is a metaphor for the “inner noise”, but maybe we mean the same thing. 走火 can also mean to set off accidentally. If you aren’t ready you are fried, literally, the internal heat is not to be underestimated.
A sad anthropological fact, no matter how far back you go If you haven’t read it, I can warmly recommend “Boiling Energy” by R. Katz, thats about as far as you can travel back through time.

Guest

My personal story,

This is actually rather easy to explain and this should be quite brief. I will speak simply.

I was born in 1985. During my childhood, Whitley Strieber’s Communion became a #1 new york times best seller. This was before the advent of the internet. His book combined night terrors with alien visitations and transcendental themes. First, consider the title of his book. Strieber contends that the aliens were not from outer space, necessarily, but that he called them simply the visitors. Critics have noticed in Striebers writing some weird psychology at work. You’re all familiar with how cartoonists enlarge the eyes for a sympathetic look? consider his alien head design in that context. The X Files used the same design for the aliens in their TV show. His alien became the popular urban myth and the zeitgeist of the era. I was like, 8yrs old when I read him. But even without reading him, his books captivated the american media and saturated it, so much so that people literally believed the u.s. government had made contact with alien forces. Was it a ruse of the cold war? Who knows the reason, but all agree, by any stretch of the imagination, the government chose and used him. He really was in every sense of the word, manufactured.

They say the truth is stranger than fiction. Before Communion was published, he had already been a successful horror fiction author. He is also the writer of The Hunger. Hollywood has adapted his work into major motion pictures numerous times. Examining his supernatural weird horror fiction critically, the guy was a master of penning terribly spooky stuff. At a young age, his work really grabbed me, and for good reason, he was a fucking great writer. Those were the circumstances when I first felt daemonic dread, and the spine tingling sensations. But I had not initiated yet.

Part two,

I now speed up and bring you into the modern era. It is 2004. Reiki has come around, I am in college, and young girls are really enamoured with it. I am excited to attend fantasia film festival for the first time. I have a diagnosis of depression, like many other people my age, I had been hospitalized, where I met a good friend with schizophrenia. At some time around me going to this festival, he dies. But not before being told of reiki, seeing this Korean film, and choosing to initiate by myself. At this time, I don’t know my friend is dead. After I initiate, go psychotic, and come out of the hospital, I learn of his death.

Remember the circumstances leading up to this time in my life.

Now , watch this trailer ( http://youtu.be/_H-hPpPMu4A ) for the film that taught me Korean shamanism initiation. The trailer alone was practically enough.

It had it all. Spirit mediumship. Aliens. And hair standing on end.

Rudolf Otto wrote a whole book about that, its called idea of the holy.

The rest is hard to explain.

Has to do with when you read gothic horror stories such as the great weird fiction masters Arthur Machen (especially), Algernon Blackwood, and H. P. Lovecraft – you feel a sensation of shuddering, this Rudolf Otto contended was an innate capacity for spirit communion. And at the basis of all religion was this experience of daemonic dread, thus described.

and Marcel Mauss believed that mana , tied to ritual offerings or oblations, was inalienable from the offerers. And this gave rise to reciprocal exchange.

but if you place such offerings on a spirit altar, utilizing a bowl of water, directed towards Chaos, to Open the Gates as they say in Mahjongg, that is an extreme way to initiate and not really recommended for just anyone. Typically you go to a shaman master and they initiate you through lineage.

but around the world. those who have that experience are recognized as extremely powerful mediums, if they survive the ordeal.

Guest

that sounds interesting, thanks

Hocketeer

It’s mainly a physiological problem, that’s why I believe all the fear-mongering, the terror is quite useless and counter-productive. If you know your body, there is no fear, no superstition, no claim or display of questionable power and certainly no horror trip, the negative can be regulated internally. Everything else is just lying to yourself and others. A gentleperson doesn’t kiss and tell.

Simon Valentine

p/x – 1 = (q/x)^c

control groups and diverse kata? mantra?

Hocketeer

no need for hierarchies, control groups or fractal initiators, they are usually full of it.

Simon Valentine

i’ll trade you some black holes for some pearly whites <3

Guest

there really is a need for them. do it on your own, i dare you

Hocketeer

There is absolutely nothing daring or special about it, it’s a basic human right that has been unnecessarily obscured by other people’s BS. No need for gatekeepers, there are plenty of those in our bodies that can reflect our progress – it’s all about how one approaches the passage, brute force or gently.

Simon Valentine

huh. i hadn’t realized what i had experienced some few years ago was that occurant. knowing would have helped equilibrium. thanks daniel!

Guest

You’re welcome.

Insanity and solitary mediumship initiation is an anthropological fact. You can’t debate.

Guest

i’m speaking generally here.

Guest

This is actually rather easy to explain and this should be quite brief. I will speak simply.
I was born in 1985. During my childhood, Whitley Strieber’s Communion became a #1 new york times best seller. This was before the advent of the internet. His book combined night terrors with alien visitations and transcendental themes. First, consider the title of his book. Strieber contends that the aliens were not from outer space, necessarily, but that he called them simply the visitors. Critics have noticed in Striebers writing some weird psychology at work. You’re all familiar with how cartoonists enlarge the eyes for a sympathetic look? consider his alien head design in that context. The X Files used the same design for the aliens in their TV show. His alien became the popular urban myth and the zeitgeist of the era. I was like, 8yrs old when I read him. But even without reading him, his books captivated the american media and saturated it, so much so that people literally believed the u.s. government had made contact with alien forces. Was it a ruse of the cold war? Who knows the reason, but all agree, by any stretch of the imagination, the government chose and used him. He really was in every sense of the word, manufactured.
They say the truth is stranger than fiction. Before Communion was published, he had already been a successful horror fiction author. He is also the writer of The Hunger. Hollywood has adapted his work into major motion pictures numerous times. Examining his supernatural weird horror fiction critically, the guy was a master of penning terribly spooky stuff. At a young age, his work really grabbed me, and for good reason, he was a really great writer. Those were the circumstances when I first felt daemonic dread, and the spine tingling sensations. But I had not initiated yet.
Part two,
I now speed up and bring you into the modern era. It is 2004. Reiki has come around, I am in college, and young girls are really enamoured with it. I am excited to attend fantasia film festival for the first time. I have a diagnosis of depression, like many other people my age, I had been hospitalized, where I met a good friend with schizophrenia. At some time around me going to this festival, he dies. But not before being told of reiki, seeing this Korean film, and choosing to initiate by myself. At this time, I don’t know my friend is dead. After I initiate, go psychotic, and come out of the hospital, I learn of his death.
Remember the circumstances leading up to this time in my life.
Now , watch the trailer for the film that taught me Korean shamanism initiation. It’s called Save The Green Planet!. The trailer alone was practically enough.
It had it all. Spirit mediumship. Aliens. And hair standing on end.
Rudolf Otto wrote a whole book about that, its called idea of the holy.

The rest is hard to explain

Has to do with the way gothic horror stories inspire a kind of cosmic dread, which causes a physical reaction felt along your body as sensations of cascading energy. he called the experience daemonic-dread. and he contended that it was somewhere at the core of religion, and exists as an innate capacity within any human being. so in a sense, he would be placing H. P. Lovecraft on the #1 podium of the most sacred god-like literature. I’m not kidding. And his work has since become really highly regarded by literary critics of supernatural horror fiction as well as scholars of religion.

Marcel Mauss’ The Gift is the idea that offerings contain mana, and are thus inalienable from the people who exchange them, and that gifts give rise to reciprocal exchange. The true gift is a kind of lie we tell ourselves, all gifts and the nature of being human, all sacrifices, even really profuse ones, are given for selfish reasons, and this in fact builds economies and societies. its necessary for societies to exchange and function at peace with one another. but there is a paranormal dimension beyond economics of what he wrote that has profound implications.

Warning about that Save The Green Planet! film recommendation
that is quite the mindfuck of a movie.
watch it at your peril.

and you’ll never hear a more appropriate use of Wizard of Oz’s Over the Rainbow. Used in the most precise and creepy way imaginable.

with terrific Kenneth Anger-esque cross-cutting .

The Well Dressed Man

I’m probably missing something as to how your experiences relate to this Aquino interview. Still, your story is genuinely of interest, Daniel.

Guest

Psi-Vampirism has been the highest interest of followers on the Left-Hand-Path, since these occult organizations have gone online. Regardless of whatever occult troupe you’re part of, they all want to replicate or copy what groups like the Temple of the Vampire are doing.

You’ll also find many threads on reiki forums to do with psi-vampirism, “how to protect yourself” (bollocks), and so on.

Everyone is preoccupied with it. Few people understand it or put in the effort in reconciling the truth for themselves that it becomes part of the territory. It’s something people interested in channeling have to deal with.

The Well Dressed Man

Ah. I haven’t dabbled in magickal orgs since the 90s. The vampire is quite an interesting model for various phenomena.

Guest

Well it is transubstantiation. Taking communion , the blood and the body of Christ, is a vampiric gesture of sorts. I’ve never done it, it’s supposed to change into the infilling of The Holy Spirit when you finally do it, or something, I became alienated from Christianity like everyone else after the two world wars, Kosovo, Vietnam, Cambodia, and so on,

never call me a theist please. I’m a severe atheist. The survival of the soul stuff after death is another matter.

The Well Dressed Man

I only call you names when you yell at me. There was an amusing indie book in the 80s called “The Last Days of Christ the Vampire.”
Edit: Sunday grape juice and saltines never seemed to carry much of a charge. Cutting games with wild goth girls during teenage years – that was communion. The scars are still barely visible.

You’re welcome, The Well Dressed Man. It’s amazing what happens when you just decide to do something.

Guest

When Dorothy wishes upon a star, yearning to go over the rainbow, she is greeted by a tornado.

I think it is a truism…

Be careful what you wish for. Rainbows are a wild ride.

The Well Dressed Man

I happen to have quite a crush on a Witch from Kansas

Noah_Nine

….sigh….

tony

“I’ve never met him in person” So you basically interviewed someone who has never met the guy (Dr Michael Aquino) the article is about.
This article truly is disinfo.

The Well Dressed Man

it’s actually two interviews. the transition is a bit abrupt though

Darren Prosser

First of all, congrats on the interview Gabriel. It would have been interesting to see what Aquino would have to say in regard to the accusations he was at the center of both mind control operations and a child trafficking ring leveled by Paul Bonacci, David Schurter and Noreen Gosch from Nebraska. If you ever get a follow up Gabriel, ask him about these as I would be interested in his response.

Aonie Anfa

I really enjoyed this. I had no idea we both had our eyes on the ToS 😉

blissentia

The problem is that primary source documentation establishes than in some respects, Aquino is obfuscating, and therefore, by virtue of witness impeachment, the rest of his commentary is suspect. He had very high security clearance, so he should have been privy to aspects of what will be revealed below that controverts his statements. I say this as somebody who has some sympathy to aspects of what he presents though believes his presentation to be incomplete – e.g. – I repudiate traditional religion, I am interested in Neoplatonism, but am also interested in people like Krishnamurti – and I feel that the “left-hand path”, perhaps best expressed in the following statement attributed to Vernon Howard – “We can accept God becoming Man to save Man, but not Man becoming God to save himself.”, and the “right-hand path”, expressed in Teilhard de Chardin’s statement – “The day will come when, after
harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall
harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second
time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – I feel that both of these ultimately point to the same thing, and that the failure to realize this is based on a failure of perception. Now, here are two items that refute Aquino:

Hey this is an interview with a follower *about* Aquino, not an interview with Aquino. Please have someone make a correction to the title of this article “The Devil’s Advocate: An Interview with Dr. Michael Aquino”

Joe

I think its both Cray. The follower was interviewed first and Aquino second. You have to read the entire article to know that though.

Strix Loricatus

Why would any man or woman, of any clearance level, incriminate him/herself for the sake of an internet interview, especially if some of these allegations are true? Aquinos is an intelligent man, he isn’t going to readily admit to any of the allegations made against him, that’s just foolish.
What I find interesting though is his response to the question asking if he has had any involvement with “Project Monarch” to sway officials/celebrities. His answer was:
“As above, I am not aware of anything like “Project Monarch”, or any other government program to influence officials and celebrities.” Yet throughout his entire interview he mentions PSYOPS nearly a dozen times. PSYOPS may not fall under the label “project” but isn’t the whole point of it to influence public opinion, officials and therefore by association celebrities? Reading that didn’t sit right with me.
The man used this opportunity to sell his book by the sounds of it, and I don’t mean this as a way to insult your intelligence Gabriel (because all things considered you’re most likely a well-intentioned and intelligent man yourself), but it looks like Aquinos played you like a fiddle here.

LightStrider

This is nothing more than an attempt to shine a false light on an evil institution. Some call it “damage control”. Good job disinfo.com for being brave enough to title your organization honestly: DISINFORMATION (while pretending to be against it).